1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to technology for using workflows with associated processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the growth of the Internet, the use of networks and other information technologies, Identity Systems have become more popular. In general, an Identity System provides for the creation, removal, editing and other managing of identity information stored in various types of data stores. The identity information pertains to users, groups, organizations and/or things. For each entry in the data store, a set of attributes is stored. For example, the attributes stored for a user may include a name, address, employee number, telephone number, email address, user ID and password. The Identity System can also manage access privileges that govern what an entity can view, create, modify or use in the Identity System. Often, this management of access privileges is based on one or more specific attributes, membership in a group and/or association with an organization.
Many organizations require pre-defined business methods in order to carry out various tasks. For example, to add a new user to the Identity System, a business method may require the telecommunications group to provide a telephone number, the Information Technology Group to provide an email address, the Human Resources Group to provide personal data, and, finally, approval from a manager. To implement such business methods with an Identity System, workflows have been implemented. In general, a workflow is a process that is implemented by the Identity System (or other system) and automates the business methods.
No single process, however, can fit the needs of every organization and task. Therefore, a given system is likely to have many workflows. The administration costs of creating and maintaining these many workflows can be burdensome on the organization. Thus, there is a need to reduce administration costs associated with creating and maintaining workflows.
Furthermore, there are situations when an entity's business process requires tasks to be performed by different applications. Since workflows are performed by one application, previous workflows have been unable to implement processes that require the use of two applications.